British and Irish Communist Organisation
Encyclopedia
The British and Irish Communist Organisation (B&ICO) was a small but highly influential group based in London
, Belfast
, Cork
, and Dublin. Its leader was Brendan Clifford
. The group produced a great number of pamphlets, and many regular publications including, The Irish Communist and Workers Weekly in Belfast. Its current formation is as Athol Books with its premier publication being the Irish Political Review.
Brendan Clifford
(born 1936) was an Irish emigrant from the Sliabh Luachra
area of County Cork
who had migrated to London and become involved in left-wing politics there.
Clifford and some of his followers had been in Michael McCreery's
Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity
and later they joined the Irish Communist Group.
This body consisted largely of Irish people who were living in London and were opposed to the Soviet-aligned communist organisations intended for Irish people. Following a 1965 split, the Maoist wing named itself the Irish Communist Organisation, which later became the British and Irish Communist Organisation. The broadly Trotskyist wing, led by Gery Lawless, became the Irish Workers' Group
.
The ICO undertook an investigation into the development of Maoism, and concluded that it was not a suitable model for an anti-revisionist
group. The Chinese Communist Party had supported some aspects of Khrushchev's
"revisionism", and then been inaccurate about its past positions.
One founder-member, Dennis Dennehy, was Secretary of the Dublin Housing Action Committee
, which organised a highly successful protest in the early 1960s.
They republished works by Stalin and by James Connolly
, accusing the official Connolly Association
of seriously misrepresenting his views.
In 1968, the ICO issued a press release which defended the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
.
- that the Ulster Protestants were or had the potential to become a nation in their own right, and that Irish Catholics could not determine the whole of the island of Ireland as a country. Their seminal publication on the question was The Economics of Partition which ran to many editions. Following the adoption of this pro-Unionist
position, the ICO withdrew and destroyed their earlier pro-Republican pamphlets. A number
of members were opposed to this new direction (including
Jim Lane)
and resigned to form the Cork Workers' Club.
The B&ICO argued that it was the Southern government's refusal to accept the Ulster Protestants right
of self-determination that was the cause of the "Troubles" :
" The cause of this strife is not Unionism nor the Unionists. Responsibility for it lies at the door of the Southern ruling class which on the basis of "One Historic Nation" has pursued a reactionary policy of national oppression for the last fifty years."
The Two Nations theory led B&ICO to consider that the Ulster Workers Council Strike was based on a reasonable demand - the rejection of a Council of Ireland
until the Republic of Ireland
dropped its constitutional claim to be the only legitimate government of the whole island. As is documented in the republished strike bulletin, there was no actual connection between them and the Ulster Workers Council. Their position naturally led to heavy criticism from the left and the nickname "The Peking Branch of the Orange Order
".
The B&ICO's immediate line was to advocate a separate Trades Union Congress
for Northern Ireland, and a front group, the "Workers’ Association for the Democratic Settlement of the National Conflict in Ireland", (usually abbreviated to the
Workers' Association) was formed to campaign for this and other aims.
The WA had both Catholic and Protestant members, some of whom had been involved in the various civil rights and socialist groupings in the late 1960s in Northern Ireland and the Republic. Notable WA members included Eamon O'Kane, Jeff Dudgeon, Henry Patterson, Peter Cosgrove, Paul Bew and Manus O'Riordan
. On 4 April 1972 a group of nine WA members chained themselves to radiators inside Iveagh House, the Department of External Affairs office in Dublin, calling for the removal of Articles 2 and 3 and with a banner and placards reading 'Recognise Northern Ireland' and 'National Rights for Protestants: Civil Rights for Catholics'. The nine were arrested and held overnight before bail was granted. They were convicted on 11 April of forcible entry of land. The Workers' Association also supported the Fine Gael
government's
strong measures against the IRA, while condemning Conor Cruise O'Brien
for not deleting
Articles 2 and 3. A similar group in the late 1970s was
Socialists Against Nationalism, which included B&ICO members as well as members
of the Socialist Party of Ireland (1971)
and Jim Kemmy
's Limerick Socialists. SAN
campaigned against Articles 2 and 3 as well as the IRA.
They also advocated that British political parties should organise in Northern Ireland. Protestants and Catholics could not easily join parties strongly identified with the other community, but all three major British parties have always included Roman Catholics and the B&ICO theorised that this could have overcome the divisions.
The B&ICO strongly opposed Ulster independence, producing a number of pamphlets against it, most notably Against Ulster Nationalism. This warned that any such movement would produce civil war, since it would be unacceptable to Ulster Catholics. Despite this, its writings have had some influence in the Ulster independence movement, including activists who identify as part of the far right
.
Future Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble
was an enthusiastic reader of B&ICO and WA material, although the B&ICO was often critical of Trimble, claiming he was sympathetic to Ulster Independence.Enoch Powell
also expressed admiration for B&ICO's publications,
calling them "nice, comfortable Unionist Marxists". Clifford Smyth
and
David Ervine
are other notable Unionists who expressed support for B&ICO.
over the Labour Party
, but this proposal was defeated, and instead the group produced a pamphlet mildly supportive of Tory policies, without calling for a vote for any party. The group initially saw Thatcherism
as a result of Labour's errors, but never supported privatisation or 'free market' ideas.
The ICO/B&ICO was strongly anti-Trotskyist, and it also opposed the Marxism of Rosa Luxemburg
and Che Guevara
.
All through the 1970s, the B&ICO was advocating Workers' Control
as the next step forward. They regarded the scheme set out in the Bullock Report as a good idea, whereas most of the left opposed it. A small faction disagreed with the B&ICO leadership's stance on Workers' Control, (which it criticised as "Fabian" and "fundamentally anti-Marxist") and split to form the Communist Organisation in the British Isles
.
One noted and controversial writer associated with the B&ICO was Bill Warren
, who wrote a book and several articles challenging the traditional Leninist view of imperialism
. John Lloyd
, later editor of the New Statesman
, was also a B&ICO member: some observers have suggested Lloyd's sympathetic view of the Ulster Unionists
comes from being influenced by B&ICO's ideas. Labour party activist Nina Fishman
was also a B&ICO member in the 1970s.
The B&ICO opposed Welsh Nationalism
and Scottish Independence
It also strongly supported the state of Israel
,in contrast to the anti-Zionist
positions of much the radical left of the time.
Unlike most of the left, the B&ICO supported the Khmer Rouge
regime and opposed
the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia.
Their actions at that time still cause some bitterness and have
caused some commentators to express cynicism about the group's current pro-nationalist position.
B&ICO members were involved in the organisations, the Campaign for Labour Representation (CLR) and the Campaign for Equal Citizenship
(CEC) in Northern Ireland.
One member of B&ICO, James “Boyd” Black, ran on an “Equal Citizenship” platform in the
Fulham by-election
in 1986. The B&ICO group were extremely antagonistic to the Anglo-Irish Agreement
, and
much of their activity in Northern Ireland was directed at publishing material and supporting groups who
shared their hostility to it.
The B&ICO also believed nuclear power
and nuclear weapons were beneficial
to humanity, and were against the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
.
It also praised Wojciech Jaruzelski
's imposition of
martial law in Poland.
When the Falklands War
broke out, the B&ICO supported the UK war effort on the grounds the UK was more "progressive" than Argentina.
Members of the B&ICO, the Socialist Party of Ireland (1971)
and Jim Kemmy
's local organisation in Limerick merged to form the Democratic Socialist Party (Ireland)
in 1982.
Some of B&ICO's members in the Republic were involved in the Campaign to Separate Church and State and published the linked Athol Books magazine, Church and State.
In tandem with these campaigns, the B&ICO also urged a hard line against the Provisional IRA
; it opposed the
1981 Irish Hunger Strike
,
and supported the use of the Diplock Court system and
Section 31
against Irish Republicans. Its publications also opposed the campaign to free the Birmingham Six
, insisting on their
guilt.
In August 1988, Clifford was involved in controversy after his publication, A Belfast Magazine printed an article, "The Knitting Professor" that was strongly critical of Mary McAleese
. McAleese claimed the article was libellous and took legal action against the publication with the help of her lawyer, QC Donal Deeney.The case was eventually settled out of court in September 1990;
as a result of the undisclosed settlement, A Belfast Magazine ceased publication for several years
The B&ICO's British branch, the Ernest Bevin Society, continued to agitate for Workers' Control throughout the
1980s. It also took unconventional positions, such as defending the British Monarchy
and most controversially, opposing the UK miners' strike (1984–1985)
.
The B&ICO was never officially disbanded, but came to work solely through Athol Books, the Aubane Historical Society and the Ernest Bevin Society.
Their chief outlets became the magazines Irish Political Review (1986–present) in Ireland, and the Labour and Trade Union Reviewin the United Kingdom.
group now calls for a United Ireland
based on a revival of traditional Irish Nationalism
.
BICO's successors are also advocating the extension of the Irish Labour Party
to Northern Ireland. This project has however been stymied by the Irish Labour Party in its 21st Century Commission report published in January 2009. It said "we are not at all convinced that parties based in either Dublin or London have any real or significant contribution to make to Northern Ireland politics by organising there...We are also far from convinced that there is sufficient demand at present within the North itself for a single, all-Ireland social democratic party."
B&ICO strongly criticised the Western response to Saddam Hussein
's invasion of Kuwait, saying that Saddam had been given no chance to back down. They also argued that removing Saddam was a bad idea, on the grounds that pan-Arab nationalism was a historically progressive force and that its accomplishment required the leadership of a powerful state (comparable to the role of Prussia in German unification and Piedmont-Sardinia in the Italian Risorgimento). It remained sympathetic to Saddam throughout the 1990s and opposed the Second Iraq War.
Around the time of the Second Gulf War,the Ernest Bevin Society backed George Galloway
and his
Respect campaign to oppose Blair's policies.
Galloway has endorsed the EBS' publications on Iraq.
At one time B&ICO was pro-Israeli, but since the late 1980s it has become fiercely pro-Palestinian. (Angela Clifford is the daughter of a Palestinian father and an Israeli Jewish mother.)
Malachi Lawless of the Irish Political Review Group and several other writers associated with the IPRG
were among those signing a petition protesting against the Israel
i government's handling of
the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
.
B&ICO has also supported Robert Mugabe
in what it calls "the Zimbabwe Land War" (by analogy with the Irish Land War of the 1880s); it argues that Mugabe's opponents are manipulated by white commercial farmers (whom it compares to nineteenth-century Irish landlords) and other neo-colonial interests.
The Irish Political Review has also defended the Chinese occupation of Tibet
and supported Russia during the 2008 South Ossetia war
.
Athol Books have also criticised the traditional history of World War I
and World War II
, arguing they were
both triggered by British
Foreign policy.
The Irish Political Review has defended General Toshio Tamogami
's controversial article on WWII, claiming Japan
ran a "very moderate"
regime in Korea
and Manchuria
and was tricked into war by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration.
The Irish Political Review's editorials also expressed support for Declan Ganley
's campaign against a second
Lisbon Treaty and Libertas' plan to run for
European Parliament
elections.
Mark Langhammer
, the ex-Newtownabbey Labour Party
councillor is affiliated with this political tradition.
Athol Books' Church and State magazine was critical of the British media's coverage of
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom
, arguing the media were unfairly biased against the
Catholic Church. Church and State also took issue with a BBC
documentary on
Cardinal John Henry Newman for featuring a contributor who suggested Newman may have been homosexual.
, the novelist Canon Patrick Sheehan
, and the local poet Ned Buckley.According to
Jack Lane, the AHS was originally intended to be a local history organisation,but later expanded into the role of opposing the "revisionist" movement in Irish history. The Society has been highly critical of Peter Hart, whom it accuses of falsifying interview material, and denunciations of Roy Foster
, Brian Hanley
, Paul Bew
, and Henry Patterson. The AHS regularly attacks Hubert Butler
(whom it accuses of being a quasi-racist defender of Protestant Ascendancy) and Elizabeth Bowen
, whom it claims acted as a British spy in Ireland during the Second World War and hence lacking any Irish identity AHS/B&ICO has worked with some writers who might be seen as representing a more traditional republican perspective, including Desmond Fennell
, Brian P. Murphy, Eoin Neeson and Meda Ryan.
B&ICO/AHS has also denied that the killing of two young Cooneyite
Protestant farmers at Coolacrease
, Co. Offaly in 1921 was sectarian (it claims they were properly executed for attacking the forces of the legitimate, democratically elected (Dáil) government). It has been associated with commentators and the Roger Casement Foundation who argue that the diaries ascribed to Roger Casement
were forged by British Intelligence while arguing that Casement's published opposition to England and participation in the First World War was a correct position for Irish people to take.
It often presents itself in populist
terms as a group of amateurs speaking for the plain people of Ireland as against academic historians, whom it presents as elitist snobs with sinister political agendas.
The B&ICO/AHS's interpretation of Irish history has been criticised by some Irish academics.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
, and Dublin. Its leader was Brendan Clifford
Brendan Clifford
- Brendan Clifford :Brendan Clifford is an Irish historian and political activist.-Career:Clifford was born in the Sliabh Luachra area of Ireland. As a young man, he emigrated to...
. The group produced a great number of pamphlets, and many regular publications including, The Irish Communist and Workers Weekly in Belfast. Its current formation is as Athol Books with its premier publication being the Irish Political Review.
Origins
Brendan Clifford
- Brendan Clifford :Brendan Clifford is an Irish historian and political activist.-Career:Clifford was born in the Sliabh Luachra area of Ireland. As a young man, he emigrated to...
(born 1936) was an Irish emigrant from the Sliabh Luachra
Sliabh Luachra
Sliabh Luachra is a region in Munster, Ireland, located around the River Blackwater, on the County Cork/County Kerry/County Limerick borderland.-Music and literature:...
area of County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
who had migrated to London and become involved in left-wing politics there.
Clifford and some of his followers had been in Michael McCreery's
Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity
Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity
Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity was a small British Marxist-Leninist group, that had left the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1963. CDRCU was led by Michael McCreery. CDRCU was sympathetic towards the Communist Party of China and the Party of Labour of Albania...
and later they joined the Irish Communist Group.
This body consisted largely of Irish people who were living in London and were opposed to the Soviet-aligned communist organisations intended for Irish people. Following a 1965 split, the Maoist wing named itself the Irish Communist Organisation, which later became the British and Irish Communist Organisation. The broadly Trotskyist wing, led by Gery Lawless, became the Irish Workers' Group
Irish Workers' Group
The Irish Workers' Group was a Marxist political party in Ireland. It originated as the Irish Workers Union, which later called itself the Irish Communist Group, and contained a variety of people who all considered themselves to be Marxists...
.
The ICO undertook an investigation into the development of Maoism, and concluded that it was not a suitable model for an anti-revisionist
Anti-Revisionist
In the Marxist–Leninist movement, anti-revisionism refers to a doctrine which upholds the line of theory and practice associated with Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, and usually either Mao Zedong or Enver Hoxha as well...
group. The Chinese Communist Party had supported some aspects of Khrushchev's
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
"revisionism", and then been inaccurate about its past positions.
One founder-member, Dennis Dennehy, was Secretary of the Dublin Housing Action Committee
Dublin Housing Action Committee
The Dublin Housing Action Committee was a 1960s protest against housing shortages in Ireland's capital city.It arose from a serious shortage of affordable housing, combined with a large number of properties standing empty. It also functioned as a way for a broad range of left-wingers in the...
, which organised a highly successful protest in the early 1960s.
They republished works by Stalin and by James Connolly
James Connolly
James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of...
, accusing the official Connolly Association
Connolly Association
The Connolly Association is an organisation based among Irish emigrants in Britain which supports the aims of Irish republicanism. It takes its name from James Connolly, an socialist republican, born in Edinburgh, Scotland and executed by the British Army in 1916 for his part in the Easter Rising...
of seriously misrepresenting his views.
In 1968, the ICO issued a press release which defended the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
On the night of 20–21 August 1968, the Soviet Union and her main satellite states in the Warsaw Pact – Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic , Hungary and Poland – invaded the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in order to halt Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring political liberalization...
.
Northern Ireland crisis
In the initial stages of the conflict in Northern Ireland, the ICO (as it then was) took part along with the IRA in the defence of Catholic areas from Protestant attacks. It was critical of both the IRA leadership and of the people who later created the Provisional IRA. The ICO line was the Two Nations TheoryTwo Nations Theory (Ireland)
The Two Nations Theory holds that the Ulster Protestants are a distinct Irish nation.According to S J Connolly's Oxford Companion to Irish History The Two Nations Theory holds that the Ulster Protestants are a distinct Irish nation.According to S J Connolly's Oxford Companion to Irish History The...
- that the Ulster Protestants were or had the potential to become a nation in their own right, and that Irish Catholics could not determine the whole of the island of Ireland as a country. Their seminal publication on the question was The Economics of Partition which ran to many editions. Following the adoption of this pro-Unionist
position, the ICO withdrew and destroyed their earlier pro-Republican pamphlets. A number
of members were opposed to this new direction (including
Jim Lane)
and resigned to form the Cork Workers' Club.
The B&ICO argued that it was the Southern government's refusal to accept the Ulster Protestants right
of self-determination that was the cause of the "Troubles" :
" The cause of this strife is not Unionism nor the Unionists. Responsibility for it lies at the door of the Southern ruling class which on the basis of "One Historic Nation" has pursued a reactionary policy of national oppression for the last fifty years."
The Two Nations theory led B&ICO to consider that the Ulster Workers Council Strike was based on a reasonable demand - the rejection of a Council of Ireland
Council of Ireland
The Council of Ireland may refer to one of two councils, one established in the 1920s, the other in the 1970s.-Council of Ireland :...
until the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
dropped its constitutional claim to be the only legitimate government of the whole island. As is documented in the republished strike bulletin, there was no actual connection between them and the Ulster Workers Council. Their position naturally led to heavy criticism from the left and the nickname "The Peking Branch of the Orange Order
Orange Institution
The Orange Institution is a Protestant fraternal organisation based mainly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, though it has lodges throughout the Commonwealth and United States. The Institution was founded in 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, Ireland...
".
The B&ICO's immediate line was to advocate a separate Trades Union Congress
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
for Northern Ireland, and a front group, the "Workers’ Association for the Democratic Settlement of the National Conflict in Ireland", (usually abbreviated to the
Workers' Association) was formed to campaign for this and other aims.
The WA had both Catholic and Protestant members, some of whom had been involved in the various civil rights and socialist groupings in the late 1960s in Northern Ireland and the Republic. Notable WA members included Eamon O'Kane, Jeff Dudgeon, Henry Patterson, Peter Cosgrove, Paul Bew and Manus O'Riordan
. On 4 April 1972 a group of nine WA members chained themselves to radiators inside Iveagh House, the Department of External Affairs office in Dublin, calling for the removal of Articles 2 and 3 and with a banner and placards reading 'Recognise Northern Ireland' and 'National Rights for Protestants: Civil Rights for Catholics'. The nine were arrested and held overnight before bail was granted. They were convicted on 11 April of forcible entry of land. The Workers' Association also supported the Fine Gael
Fine Gael
Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...
government's
strong measures against the IRA, while condemning Conor Cruise O'Brien
Conor Cruise O'Brien
Conor Cruise O'Brien often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish politician, writer, historian and academic. Although his opinion on the role of Britain in Northern Ireland changed over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, he always acknowledge values of, as he saw, the two irreconcilable traditions...
for not deleting
Articles 2 and 3. A similar group in the late 1970s was
Socialists Against Nationalism, which included B&ICO members as well as members
of the Socialist Party of Ireland (1971)
Socialist Party of Ireland (1971)
The Socialist Party of Ireland was a minor left-wing political party which existed in Ireland from 1971 to 1982.The SPI was set up by ex-members of Official Sinn Féin. It was formed on 13 December 1971 in Dublin and published its political manifesto on 19 January 1972...
and Jim Kemmy
Jim Kemmy
Jim Kemmy was an Irish socialist politician from Limerick, who started his political career in the Labour Party...
's Limerick Socialists. SAN
campaigned against Articles 2 and 3 as well as the IRA.
They also advocated that British political parties should organise in Northern Ireland. Protestants and Catholics could not easily join parties strongly identified with the other community, but all three major British parties have always included Roman Catholics and the B&ICO theorised that this could have overcome the divisions.
The B&ICO strongly opposed Ulster independence, producing a number of pamphlets against it, most notably Against Ulster Nationalism. This warned that any such movement would produce civil war, since it would be unacceptable to Ulster Catholics. Despite this, its writings have had some influence in the Ulster independence movement, including activists who identify as part of the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
.
Future Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble
David Trimble
William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, PC , is a politician from Northern Ireland. He served as Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party , was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland , and was a Member of the British Parliament . He is currently a life peer for the Conservative Party...
was an enthusiastic reader of B&ICO and WA material, although the B&ICO was often critical of Trimble, claiming he was sympathetic to Ulster Independence.Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
also expressed admiration for B&ICO's publications,
calling them "nice, comfortable Unionist Marxists". Clifford Smyth
Clifford Smyth
For the rapper, see Method Man.Clifford Smyth is a historian and former politician in Northern Ireland.Smyth stood for the Democratic Unionist Party in North Antrim in the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1973, narrowly missing out on a seat. Following the death of David McCarthy, an Ulster...
and
David Ervine
David Ervine
David Ervine was a Northern Irish politician and the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party .-Biography:...
are other notable Unionists who expressed support for B&ICO.
1970s
In the February 1974 UK general election, Clifford proposed advocating a vote for the Conservative PartyConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
over the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, but this proposal was defeated, and instead the group produced a pamphlet mildly supportive of Tory policies, without calling for a vote for any party. The group initially saw Thatcherism
Thatcherism
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...
as a result of Labour's errors, but never supported privatisation or 'free market' ideas.
The ICO/B&ICO was strongly anti-Trotskyist, and it also opposed the Marxism of Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
and Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
.
All through the 1970s, the B&ICO was advocating Workers' Control
Workers' control
Workers' control is a term meaning participation in the management of factories and other commercial enterprises by the people who work there. It has been variously advocated by anarchists, socialists, Communists, Social Democrats and Christian Democrats, and has been combined with various...
as the next step forward. They regarded the scheme set out in the Bullock Report as a good idea, whereas most of the left opposed it. A small faction disagreed with the B&ICO leadership's stance on Workers' Control, (which it criticised as "Fabian" and "fundamentally anti-Marxist") and split to form the Communist Organisation in the British Isles
Communist Organisation in the British Isles
The Communist Organisation in the British Isles was a Marxist-Leninist political party in Britain and Ireland. It was founded in 1974 by members of the British and Irish Communist Organisation who disagreed with BICO's stance on workers' control, which the COBI described as reducing "the working...
.
One noted and controversial writer associated with the B&ICO was Bill Warren
Bill Warren (British Communist)
Bill Warren was a British Communist, originally a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and later a contributor to New Left Review. In his last years he was a member of the British and Irish Communist Organisation....
, who wrote a book and several articles challenging the traditional Leninist view of imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
. John Lloyd
John Lloyd (UK journalist)
John Lloyd is a journalist, presently contributing editor to the Financial Times, where he has been Labour Editor, Industrial editor, East European Editor and Moscow Bureau Chief....
, later editor of the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, was also a B&ICO member: some observers have suggested Lloyd's sympathetic view of the Ulster Unionists
comes from being influenced by B&ICO's ideas. Labour party activist Nina Fishman
Nina Fishman
Nina Fishman was an American-born English labour movement historian and political activist.Fishman was born in San Francisco. Her father, Leslie Fishman, was an economist at the University of California, Berkeley...
was also a B&ICO member in the 1970s.
The B&ICO opposed Welsh Nationalism
Welsh nationalism
Welsh nationalism emphasises the distinctiveness of Welsh language, culture, and history, and calls for more self-determination for Wales, which may include more Devolved powers for the Welsh Assembly or full independence from the United Kingdom.-Conquest:...
and Scottish Independence
Scottish independence
Scottish independence is a political ambition of political parties, advocacy groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and become an independent sovereign state, separate from England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
It also strongly supported the state of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
,in contrast to the anti-Zionist
positions of much the radical left of the time.
Unlike most of the left, the B&ICO supported the Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
regime and opposed
the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia.
Their actions at that time still cause some bitterness and have
caused some commentators to express cynicism about the group's current pro-nationalist position.
1980s
In the 1980s, B&ICO was advocating the extension of the British parties to organise in Northern Ireland, and manyB&ICO members were involved in the organisations, the Campaign for Labour Representation (CLR) and the Campaign for Equal Citizenship
Campaign for Equal Citizenship
The Campaign for Equal Citizenship was a political advocacy group that supported the integration of Northern Ireland into the United Kingdom and called for the full participation of mainland political parties in Northern Irish politics....
(CEC) in Northern Ireland.
One member of B&ICO, James “Boyd” Black, ran on an “Equal Citizenship” platform in the
Fulham by-election
Fulham by-election, 1986
The Fulham by-election, in Fulham, on 10 April 1986 was held following the death of the Conservative Member of Parliament Martin Stevens on 10 January that year...
in 1986. The B&ICO group were extremely antagonistic to the Anglo-Irish Agreement
Anglo-Irish Agreement
The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland...
, and
much of their activity in Northern Ireland was directed at publishing material and supporting groups who
shared their hostility to it.
The B&ICO also believed nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
and nuclear weapons were beneficial
to humanity, and were against the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is an anti-nuclear organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
.
It also praised Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski is a retired Polish military officer and Communist politician. He was the last Communist leader of Poland from 1981 to 1989, Prime Minister from 1981 to 1985 and the country's head of state from 1985 to 1990. He was also the last commander-in-chief of the Polish People's...
's imposition of
martial law in Poland.
When the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
broke out, the B&ICO supported the UK war effort on the grounds the UK was more "progressive" than Argentina.
Members of the B&ICO, the Socialist Party of Ireland (1971)
Socialist Party of Ireland (1971)
The Socialist Party of Ireland was a minor left-wing political party which existed in Ireland from 1971 to 1982.The SPI was set up by ex-members of Official Sinn Féin. It was formed on 13 December 1971 in Dublin and published its political manifesto on 19 January 1972...
and Jim Kemmy
Jim Kemmy
Jim Kemmy was an Irish socialist politician from Limerick, who started his political career in the Labour Party...
's local organisation in Limerick merged to form the Democratic Socialist Party (Ireland)
Democratic Socialist Party (Ireland)
The Democratic Socialist Party was a small left wing political party in the Republic of Ireland. It was a merger of Jim Kemmy's Limerick Socialist Organisation and the Socialist Party of Ireland. Jim Kemmy was an Irish politician and member of Dáil Éireann...
in 1982.
Some of B&ICO's members in the Republic were involved in the Campaign to Separate Church and State and published the linked Athol Books magazine, Church and State.
In tandem with these campaigns, the B&ICO also urged a hard line against the Provisional IRA
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
; it opposed the
1981 Irish Hunger Strike
1981 Irish hunger strike
The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners...
,
and supported the use of the Diplock Court system and
Section 31
Censorship in the Republic of Ireland
Ireland rarely exercises censorship though the state retains wide-ranging laws which allow for it, including specific laws covering films, advertisements, newspapers and magazines, as well as terrorism and pornography...
against Irish Republicans. Its publications also opposed the campaign to free the Birmingham Six
Birmingham Six
The Birmingham Six were six men—Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker—sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 in the United Kingdom for the Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and quashed by the Court of...
, insisting on their
guilt.
In August 1988, Clifford was involved in controversy after his publication, A Belfast Magazine printed an article, "The Knitting Professor" that was strongly critical of Mary McAleese
Mary McAleese
Mary Patricia McAleese served as the eighth President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. She was the second female president and was first elected in 1997 succeeding Mary Robinson, making McAleese the world's first woman to succeed another as president. She was re-elected unopposed for a second term in...
. McAleese claimed the article was libellous and took legal action against the publication with the help of her lawyer, QC Donal Deeney.The case was eventually settled out of court in September 1990;
as a result of the undisclosed settlement, A Belfast Magazine ceased publication for several years
The B&ICO's British branch, the Ernest Bevin Society, continued to agitate for Workers' Control throughout the
1980s. It also took unconventional positions, such as defending the British Monarchy
British monarchy
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
and most controversially, opposing the UK miners' strike (1984–1985)
UK miners' strike (1984–1985)
The UK miners' strike was a major industrial action affecting the British coal industry. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the British trades union movement...
.
The B&ICO was never officially disbanded, but came to work solely through Athol Books, the Aubane Historical Society and the Ernest Bevin Society.
Their chief outlets became the magazines Irish Political Review (1986–present) in Ireland, and the Labour and Trade Union Reviewin the United Kingdom.
1990s to now
In the 1990s B&ICO' former members decided that the Irish nationalism that they had originally opposed had collapsed and that it was necessary to oppose the new Globalist forces that now dominated the Republic of Ireland. Thegroup now calls for a United Ireland
United Ireland
A united Ireland is the term used to refer to the idea of a sovereign state which covers all of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. The island of Ireland includes the territory of two independent sovereign states: the Republic of Ireland, which covers 26 counties of the island, and the...
based on a revival of traditional Irish Nationalism
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
.
BICO's successors are also advocating the extension of the Irish Labour Party
Labour Party (Ireland)
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William X. O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish...
to Northern Ireland. This project has however been stymied by the Irish Labour Party in its 21st Century Commission report published in January 2009. It said "we are not at all convinced that parties based in either Dublin or London have any real or significant contribution to make to Northern Ireland politics by organising there...We are also far from convinced that there is sufficient demand at present within the North itself for a single, all-Ireland social democratic party."
B&ICO strongly criticised the Western response to Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
's invasion of Kuwait, saying that Saddam had been given no chance to back down. They also argued that removing Saddam was a bad idea, on the grounds that pan-Arab nationalism was a historically progressive force and that its accomplishment required the leadership of a powerful state (comparable to the role of Prussia in German unification and Piedmont-Sardinia in the Italian Risorgimento). It remained sympathetic to Saddam throughout the 1990s and opposed the Second Iraq War.
Around the time of the Second Gulf War,the Ernest Bevin Society backed George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
and his
Respect campaign to oppose Blair's policies.
Galloway has endorsed the EBS' publications on Iraq.
At one time B&ICO was pro-Israeli, but since the late 1980s it has become fiercely pro-Palestinian. (Angela Clifford is the daughter of a Palestinian father and an Israeli Jewish mother.)
Malachi Lawless of the Irish Political Review Group and several other writers associated with the IPRG
were among those signing a petition protesting against the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i government's handling of
the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
The Gaza War, known as Operation Cast Lead in Israel and as the Gaza Massacre in the Arab world, was a three-week bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel, and hundreds of rocket attacks on south of Israel which...
.
B&ICO has also supported Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
in what it calls "the Zimbabwe Land War" (by analogy with the Irish Land War of the 1880s); it argues that Mugabe's opponents are manipulated by white commercial farmers (whom it compares to nineteenth-century Irish landlords) and other neo-colonial interests.
The Irish Political Review has also defended the Chinese occupation of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
and supported Russia during the 2008 South Ossetia war
2008 South Ossetia war
The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....
.
Athol Books have also criticised the traditional history of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, arguing they were
both triggered by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Foreign policy.
The Irish Political Review has defended General Toshio Tamogami
Toshio Tamogami
was the chief of staff of Japan's Air Self-Defense Force from March 2007 to November 2008.-Career and retirement:Tamogami was dismissed with a 60 million yen allowance due to an essay he published on October 31, 2008, arguing that "it is a false accusation to say was an aggressor nation" during...
's controversial article on WWII, claiming Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ran a "very moderate"
regime in Korea
Korea under Japanese rule
Korea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Japanese rule ended in 1945 shortly after the Japanese defeat in World War II....
and Manchuria
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
and was tricked into war by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration.
The Irish Political Review's editorials also expressed support for Declan Ganley
Declan Ganley
Declan James Ganley is a British-born Irish citizen, entrepreneur, businessman and political activist. He is founder and chairman of a political party, Libertas with pan-European ambitions...
's campaign against a second
Lisbon Treaty and Libertas' plan to run for
European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
elections.
Mark Langhammer
Mark Langhammer
Mark Langhammer is a trade unionist, employed as Director of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and elected onto the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in 2008, being re-elected in 2010...
, the ex-Newtownabbey Labour Party
Newtownabbey Labour Party
The Newtownabbey Labour Party is a minor political party based in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland.The party originated as the Newtownabbey branch of the Northern Ireland Labour Party. It left its parent organisation in the 1970s...
councillor is affiliated with this political tradition.
Athol Books' Church and State magazine was critical of the British media's coverage of
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom from 16 to 19 September 2010 was the first state visit by a pope to the United Kingdom...
, arguing the media were unfairly biased against the
Catholic Church. Church and State also took issue with a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary on
Cardinal John Henry Newman for featuring a contributor who suggested Newman may have been homosexual.
The Aubane Historical Society
The Aubane Historical Society (Aubane is an area of North Cork where some BICO members, including Brendan Clifford and Jack Lane, originate) has published numerous pamphlets on local history matters, often in relation to the Home Rule politician William O'BrienWilliam O'Brien
William O'Brien was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
, the novelist Canon Patrick Sheehan
Patrick Augustine Sheehan
The Very Rev. Patrick Augustine Canon Sheehan in Gaelic: An Canónach Pádraig Aguistín Ó Síothcháin , was an Irish Roman Catholic priest, author, political activist was invariably known and referred to as Canon Sheehan of Doneraile, having been appointed on July 4, 1895 Parish Priest of Doneraile,...
, and the local poet Ned Buckley.According to
Jack Lane, the AHS was originally intended to be a local history organisation,but later expanded into the role of opposing the "revisionist" movement in Irish history. The Society has been highly critical of Peter Hart, whom it accuses of falsifying interview material, and denunciations of Roy Foster
R. F. Foster (historian)
Robert Fitzroy Foster FBA FRHistS FRSL - generally known as Roy Foster - is the Carroll Professor of Irish History at Hertford College, Oxford in the UK.-Background and education:...
, Brian Hanley
Brian Hanley
Brian Hanley is an Irish hurling manager and former player. He is the current manager of the Westmeath senior hurling team....
, Paul Bew
Paul Bew
Paul Anthony Elliott Bew, Baron Bew of Donegore is a Northern Irish historian. He has worked at Queen's University Belfast since 1979, and is currently Professor of Irish Politics, a position he has held since 1991.-Academic career:...
, and Henry Patterson. The AHS regularly attacks Hubert Butler
Hubert Butler
Hubert Marshal Butler was an Irish essayist who wrote on a wide-range of topics, from local history and archaeology to the political and religious affairs of eastern Europe before and during World War II.-Early life:...
(whom it accuses of being a quasi-racist defender of Protestant Ascendancy) and Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Irish novelist and short story writer.-Life:Elizabeth Bowen was born on 7 June 1899 at 15 Herbert Place in Dublin, Ireland and was baptized in the nearby St Stephen's Church on Upper Mount Street...
, whom it claims acted as a British spy in Ireland during the Second World War and hence lacking any Irish identity AHS/B&ICO has worked with some writers who might be seen as representing a more traditional republican perspective, including Desmond Fennell
Desmond Fennell (Irish writer)
Desmond Fennell is an Irish writer, cultural philosopher and linguist, specialising in the essay and the reflective travel narrative, who lives in Dublin...
, Brian P. Murphy, Eoin Neeson and Meda Ryan.
B&ICO/AHS has also denied that the killing of two young Cooneyite
Cooneyites
The Cooneyites are a Protestant sect which split from the Two by Twos, originally called "the Tramps" or "the Go-Preachers" founded by William Irvine, often referred to today as "The Truth" or "Cooneyites". References to the term "Cooneyites" prior to 1928 refer to the group described under Two by...
Protestant farmers at Coolacrease
Killings at Coolacrease
The killings at Coolacrease was an incident that took place in County Offaly during the Irish War of Independence. In late June 1921, Irish Republican Army volunteers came under fire at a roadblock in the rural area of Coolacrease . The roadblock was located at the boundary of land owned by...
, Co. Offaly in 1921 was sectarian (it claims they were properly executed for attacking the forces of the legitimate, democratically elected (Dáil) government). It has been associated with commentators and the Roger Casement Foundation who argue that the diaries ascribed to Roger Casement
Roger Casement
Roger David Casement —Sir Roger Casement CMG between 1911 and shortly before his execution for treason, when he was stripped of his British honours—was an Irish patriot, poet, revolutionary, and nationalist....
were forged by British Intelligence while arguing that Casement's published opposition to England and participation in the First World War was a correct position for Irish people to take.
It often presents itself in populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
terms as a group of amateurs speaking for the plain people of Ireland as against academic historians, whom it presents as elitist snobs with sinister political agendas.
The B&ICO/AHS's interpretation of Irish history has been criticised by some Irish academics.
External links
- Athol Books
- From Peking to Aubane, Indymedia Ireland
- Irish Left Online Document Archive - contains PDFs of BICO publications from the 1970s and 1980s, with commentary
- As soon as this pub closes - BICO section - from a satirical piece written by the late John Sullivan in 1988
- Irish Democrat Roy JohnstonRoy JohnstonRoy Johnston is an Irish physicist. He was a Marxist who as a member of the IRA in the 1960s argued for a National Liberation Strategy to unite the Catholic and Protestant working classes...
reviews a book on Elizabeth Bowen, and discusses the AHS' criticisms of her activities